WASHINGTON, Oct. 1, 2007
FBI To Probe Blackwater Shooting
Investigation Launched Amid Report Detailing Contractor's Widespread Violations
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Play CBS Video Video Report: Blackwater Negligent A House committee has found that Blackwater was negligent in sending four contractors on a dangerous mission into Fallujah where they were killed and dismembered in 2004. David Martin reports.
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Video Blackwater In Trouble What will happen to U.S. security contractors in Iraq? Nancy Cordes asks Jeremy Scahill, author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army."
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(CBS/AP)
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Members of a private security company pose on the rooftop of a house in Baghdad on Sept. 18, 2007. (AFP/Getty)
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Blackwater USA employees receive instruction along a make-shift street scene before practicing a vehicle ambush response drill in this Feb. 20, 2004, file photo, on Blackwater's land near Moyock, N.C. (AP Photo/Karen Tam)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said the agency was making the move at the request of the State Department to examine evidence in the Sept. 16 shooting and to pursue possible criminal charges in light of allegations that guards working for Blackwater might have shot innocent Iraqi citizens.
The FBI's involvement in the Blackwater investigation raises the possibility the private security contractor and its employees could face criminal charges, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
"The results of the investigation will be reviewed for possible criminal liability and referred to the appropriate legal authority," Kolko said.
Meanwhile, the head of Blackwater, Erik Prince, will face questions about the shootings Tuesday at a hearing on Capitol Hill, adds Orr.
Private security contractor Blackwater USA has had to fire 122 people over the past three years for problems ranging from misusing weapons, alcohol and drug violations, inappropriate conduct, and violent behavior, according to a report released Monday by a congressional committee.
That total is roughly one-seventh of the work force that Blackwater has in Iraq, a ratio that raises questions about the quality of the people working for the company.Read The House Committee's Report
The report, prepared by the majority staff of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also says Blackwater has been involved in 195 shooting incidents since 2005, or roughly 1.4 per week.
In more than 80 percent of the incidents, called "escalation of force," Blackwater's guards fired the first shots even though the company's contract with the State Department calls for it to use defensive force only, it said.
"In the vast majority of instances in which Blackwater fired shots, Blackwater is firing from a moving vehicle and does not remain at the scene to determine if the shots resulted in casualties," according to the report.
The staff report paints Blackwater as a company that's made huge sums of money despite its questionable performance in Iraq, where Blackwater guards provide protective services for U.S. diplomatic personnel.
Blackwater has earned more than $1 billion from federal contracts since 2001, when it had less than $1 million in government work. Overall, the State Department paid Blackwater more than $832 million between 2004 and 2006 for security work, according to the report.
Blackwater, founded in 1997 and headquartered in Moyock, N.C., is the biggest of the State Department's three private security contractors. The others are Dyncorp and Triple Canopy, both based in Washington's northern Virginia suburbs.
According to the 15-page report, Blackwater has had more shooting incidents than the other two companies combined.
Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell had no comment on the specifics in the report.
"We look forward to setting the record straight on this issue and others tomorrow when Erik Prince testifies before the committee," she said.
On Friday seven of the oversight committee's 18 Republican members called on Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the panel's chairman, to postpone the hearing until more is known about a recent incident in Iraq involving Blackwater guards.
On Sept. 16, 2007, 11 Iraqis were killed in a shoot-out involving Blackwater guards protecting a U.S. diplomatic convoy in Baghdad. Blackwater says its guards acted in self-defense after the convoy came under attack. Iraqi witnesses have said the shooting was unprovoked.
Several investigations are under way, including one by the State Department and another by a U.S.-Iraqi commission that is also examining the broader issue of how private security contractors in Iraq operate.
In a Sept. 28 letter, Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., and six other Republicans said the committee should wait until these investigations are complete.
"We feel it would be irresponsible for the committee to rush to judgment until all the facts are considered," the letter states.
Rep. Tom Davis or Virginia, the committee's top Republican, did not sign the letter.
Spokesman Brian McNicoll said Davis has no objection to the hearing taking place because several State Department representatives are scheduled to testify.
In addition to Prince, the witnesses include: David Satterfield, the department's Iraq coordinator, Richard Griffin, assistant secretary for diplomatic security, and William H. Moser, deputy assistant secretary for logistics management.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 129 Comments'' ... most folk most time dance get well feed world, that little girl is evil, lurks among normal, but really get sick tax world, cuff collar mug rape, swear, not hike naked dance dressed porn songs or off backs of dragons to break bones for fun, most behave, but not her, or me till she''s gone ... ''
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and these fascist nazi terrorislamic muslim collaborators,,,
LOOK WHO IS TARGETING CIVILIANS!!!
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070929/twl-iraq-unrest-3cd7efd_3.html - Iraqi civilian deaths part of war on terror: US military
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/03/06/afghan15446.htm - Afghanistan: US Should Investigate Civilian Deaths
Witnesses told journalists and Afghan officials that US forces, while speeding away from the attack, shot at vehicles and pedestrians along at least a six-mile stretch of highway. At least eight and as many as 16 civilians were killed, and approximately 25 others were wounded. The dead included a woman and two children.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070929/wl_afp/iraqunrest_070929152109 - U.S. military says it regrets civilian deaths in Iraq
According to the Iraqi Body Count website...between 74,312 and 80,954 civilians have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/dec2001/afgh-d29.shtml - As US bombs more civilian targets, Bush insists Afghan war must go on
Bush%u2019s remarks came the day after a US air raid killed at least 40 people in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika.
A recent independent study by Marc Herold, an economics professor at the University of New Hampshire, estimates that at least 3,767 civilians have died in the bombings. This tally is extremely conservative...
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070929/twl-iraq-unrest-3cd7efd_3.html - Iraqi civilian deaths part of war on terror: US military
http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/03/06/afghan15446.htm - Afghanistan: US Should Investigate Civilian Deaths
Witnesses told journalists and Afghan officials that US forces, while speeding away from the attack, shot at vehicles and pedestrians along at least a six-mile stretch of highway. At least eight and as many as 16 civilians were killed, and approximately 25 others were wounded. The dead included a woman and two children.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070929/wl_afp/iraqunrest_070929152109 - U.S. military says it regrets civilian deaths in Iraq
According to the Iraqi Body Count website...between 74,312 and 80,954 civilians have been killed since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/dec2001/afgh-d29.shtml - As US bombs more civilian targets, Bush insists Afghan war must go on
Bush%u2019s remarks came the day after a US air raid killed at least 40 people in the eastern Afghan province of Paktika.
A recent independent study by Marc Herold, an economics professor at the University of New Hampshire, estimates that at least 3,767 civilians have died in the bombings. This tally is extremely conservative...
Posted by stevex47 at 09:06 PM : Oct 01, 2007"
And took the same medication, with courtesy of budweiser ...
As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.If you are active duty, reservist or national guard, please Sign this Appeal.Most service members fully support the war in Iraq and feel calls to retreat by Congress and attacks by our media on our conduct and mission act to motivate our enemy while demoralizing our support at home, directly increasing the threat we face and resulting in greater American casualties. This Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to Congress to fully support us and actively oppose media attacks on our mission and our morale.
This Appeal will be delivered to members of Congress.http://www.appealforcourage.org/
Posted by lars008 at 05:34 PM : May 19, 2007
Posted by brianbwb at 12:30 AM : Oct 02, 2007"
which is standard proceedure all the time in fascist nazi terrorislamic countries,,,
As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.If you are active duty, reservist or national guard, please Sign this Appeal.Most service members fully support the war in Iraq and feel calls to retreat by Congress and attacks by our media on our conduct and mission act to motivate our enemy while demoralizing our support at home, directly increasing the threat we face and resulting in greater American casualties. This Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to Congress to fully support us and actively oppose media attacks on our mission and our morale.
This Appeal will be delivered to members of Congress.http://www.appealforcourage.org/
Posted by lars008 at 05:34 PM : May 19, 2007
It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it. Robert E. Lee
A self-respecting nation is ready for anything, including war, except for a renunciation of its option to make war. Simone Weil
If there must be trouble let it be in my day, that my child may have peace. Thomas Paine
Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Winston Churchill
One ought never to turn one''s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Winston Churchill
The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal warmonger. Theodore Roosevelt
As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.If you are active duty, reservist or national guard, please Sign this Appeal.Most service members fully support the war in Iraq and feel calls to retreat by Congress and attacks by our media on our conduct and mission act to motivate our enemy while demoralizing our support at home, directly increasing the threat we face and resulting in greater American casualties. This Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to Congress to fully support us and actively oppose media attacks on our mission and our morale.This Appeal will be delivered to members of Congress.http://www.appealforcourage.org/
Posted by lars008 at 05:34 PM : May 19, 2007
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Ben Franklin
We make war that we may live in peace. Aristotle
It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war. John F. Kennedy
There''s a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn''t a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature. Barbara Kingsolver
They have not wanted Peace at all; they have wanted to be spared war -- as though the absence of war was the same as peace. Dorothy Thompson
There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy. George Washington
I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain. John Adams
Posted by brianbwb at 12:30 AM : Oct 02, 2007"
And we know that republicans would act immediately when they find out that one of them is a pedophile, trying to get an affair with a page, don''t we ?
As an American currently serving my nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to fully support our mission in Iraq and halt any calls for retreat. I also respectfully urge my political leaders to actively oppose media efforts which embolden my enemy while demoralizing American support at home. The War in Iraq is a necessary and just effort to bring freedom to the Middle East and protect America from further attack.If you are active duty, reservist or national guard, please Sign this Appeal.Most service members fully support the war in Iraq and feel calls to retreat by Congress and attacks by our media on our conduct and mission act to motivate our enemy while demoralizing our support at home, directly increasing the threat we face and resulting in greater American casualties. This Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to Congress to fully support us and actively oppose media attacks on our mission and our morale.
This Appeal will be delivered to members of Congress.http://www.appealforcourage.org/
Posted by lars008 at 05:34 PM : May 19, 2007
None Of Us Are Free - Lynyrd Skynyrd
http://www.lyrics007.com/Lynyrd%20Skynyrd%20Lyrics/None%20Of%20Us%20Are%20Free%20Lyrics.html
WHY IS IT NOT ONE MUSLIM COUNTRY GRANTS EQUAL RIGHTS TO NON MUSLIMS?
FASCIST NAZI TERRORISLAM SAYS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATES ISLAM LAW...
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
For example, in 1981, the Iranian representative to the United Nations, Said Rajaie-Khorassani, articulated the position of his country regarding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by saying that the UDHR was "a secular understanding of the Judeo-Christian tradition", which could not be implemented by Muslims without trespassing the Islamic law.
http://www.un.org/terrorism/
http://www.un.org/terrorism/strategy-counter-terrorism.html
http://www.un.org/
But the accepted assumption in India is that most of India''s Muslims were converted to Islam through the sword. Meaning the Indians were given an option between death or adopting Islam. The third option was getting examined in Islam religion along with heavy taxes- Jeziya (poll tax) and Kharaj (property tax).
http://adaniel.tripod.com/Islam.htm
this is what fascist nazi islam calls peace....
are you ready to live under islam rule as a non muslim???
apartheid fascist nazi islamic style
Rights of Non-Muslims in an Islamic State
http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/islamic_state.htm
Qaeda warns of attacks ''worse than 9/11''
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070530102648.wuwa6k96&show_article=1
Hizbullah Deputy Sec-Gen Sheikh Naim Qassem: We Have Jurisprudent Permission to Carry Out ''Martyrdom'' Operations, Fire Missiles on Israeli Civilians From Ayatollah Khomeini
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD154907
Switching Sides: Inside The Enemy Camp
But then in 2000, well before his arrest, something happened which would make Abas question everything he believed in: a fatwa, a religious edict, was issued by Osama bin Laden.
"It should be understood that killing Americans and Jews anywhere found are the highest act of worship and the highest form of good deeds in the eyes of Allah," Simon quotes bin Laden.
Abas and his fellow commanders were ordered to read the fatwa to their men and make sure they carried it out. The others obeyed, but Abas refused. It was his moment of truth. He firmly believed that jihad was to be fought only on the battlefield in defense of Islam; he had always been taught that the killing of civilians had nothing to do with holy war and that it was forbidden.
The fatwa justified killing non-Muslim civilians everywhere.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/04/60minutes/main2761108.shtml?source=RSSattr=60Minutes_2761108
American Al Qaeda Member Threatens Attack
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/29/terror/main2865282.shtml
Posted by lars008 at 05:34 PM : May 19, 2007
non muslims of the world unite,,, fight against the tyranny of the fascist nazi terrorslam imperialist empire of the darkside,,,
I was a fanatic...I know their thinking, says former radical Islamist
By blaming the Government for our actions, those who pushed this "Blair''s bombs" line did our propaganda work for us.
More important, they also helped to draw away any critical examination from the real engine of our violence: Islamic theology.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=465570&in_page_id=1770
Bless the Beasts and Children
Fascist nazi terrorslam kills every man woman and child in the village again%u2026 typical mo for terrorslam%u2026
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/bless-the-beasts-and-children.htm
Our Prophet commanded us to fight the kaafirs when we are able and to attack them in their homelands and to give them three choices before we enter their lands: either they become Muslim and be like us, sharing our rights and duties; or they pay the jizyah (poll tax) and feel themselves subdued; or they fight, in which case their wealth, women, children and homes become permissible as booty for the Muslims.
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=13759&ln=eng&txt=before%20islam%20arabia%20pagan
the truth about fascist nazi terrorislam...
http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/
http://www.amazon.com/Democrats-Had-Brains-Theyd-Republicans/dp/0307353451/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-2319952-1324433?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191326548&sr=8-1
"if demonic-rats had any brains, they would be republicans, lol
hahaha"
I guess that makes you a Democrat lars.
By the way, how''s life out of the closet treating you?
http://profielen1.****.nl/show.php?nick=lars008
Oh, and if you had any courage, you''d be over in Iraq fighting for the lies that GW Bush spews forth every day.
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